Lyric Theatre announces summer film series

Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier in “Uptown Saturday Night,” the first in a trilogy of mid-1970s comedies starring the duo and directed by Poitier.

The Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center has announced its second annual summer film series. The aim of the series is to “take a nostalgic look back at a variety of films defining different eras in African-American cinema,” according a news release. The lineup includes everything from a historic Oscar winner to a trilogy of Sidney Poitier-Bill Cosby comedies from the mid-1970s. All are showing at 3 p.m. Sundays from July 14 to Sept. 1. Admission is free, and the theater will have a concession stand, including popcorn.

July 21,Lilies of the Field (1963): Sidney Poitier, right, became the first black man to win a competitive Oscar for his performance as a man who meets a group of nuns that believe he has been sent by God to help them build a new church.

July 28,Uptown Saturday Night (1974): Cosby and Poitier are blue-collar workers who get robbed at a nightclub and go after the crooks when they discover there was a winning lottery ticket in one of their wallets.

Aug. 4,Let’s Do It Again (1975): Poitier and Cosby are, again, blue-collar workers in Atlanta who try to rig a boxing match to raise funds for their fraternal lodge.

Aug. 11,A Piece of the Action (1977): Poitier and Cosby play thieves trying to go straight.

Aug. 25,Lackawanna Blues (2005): Frankfort native George C. Wolfe directed both the stage play and this film version of Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s stories of his primary caregiver when he was growing up. S. Epatha Merkerson won Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for her performance in the HBO film.

Sept. 1,Lean on Me (1989): Morgan Freeman stars in the story of a real-life New Jersey high school principal charged with turning his school around, or it will be taken over by the state.